Mulitasking Performance

Website: MPC-HC
Website: 7Zip

To run multiple applications well you need a powerful (ideally multi-core) CPU and plenty of RAM. Our multitasking test performs a massive file backup (with encryption) using 7Zip, while simultaneously playing back a HD movie file using Media Player Classic, making it a seriously demanding test for any PC.


In multitasking, the Kuma CPUs mix it up with the tri-core Phenom, making up for the lack of that extra core with clock speed. From this test we could conclude why buy the cheapest tri-core when an even cheaper K10 dual core performs just as well? Both perform considerably better than the Intel E5200 as well, and the Athlon X2 7550 is nearly ten percent faster in a clock to clock comparison.

Power Consumption

When we test power consumption we consider it as a whole platform, so whether the CPU includes a memory controller or it's separate in the northbridge, this doesn't make a difference to what we measure at the wall and how much electricity is paid for. The setup other than the motherboard and CPU is kept consistent to provide uniformity where possible.

Despite power saving hardware on the Intel motherboard, it was not used in order to keep the power saving results limited to the CPU only.


In the idle test the K10 Phenoms still use lots of power - nearly 50 percent more than the Intel and even the older K8 CPUs, even with Cool'n'Quiet enabled. The Phenoms clock down to just 1GHz, unlike the Intel CPUs that SpeedStep down to 1.2GHz, but because the L3 cache and memory controller doesn't downclock also, the whole system's power use is higher.


Under load the power use is also higher, like we'd expect for an 89W TDP part versus other 65W parts, and both Kumas are still lower power than the triple-core Phenom. The power consumption is a huge 61 percent more than the Intel E5200 for the 7550 in a clock for clock comparison - that's very significant and quite disappointing considering in theory having everything on-CPU should make it more efficient.